First published 2024
Ten-year-old Marie lives in Canada with her mother when Ai-Ming arrives at their door in 1991. The young woman has escaped China after the Tiananmen Square protests, carrying memories that will change Marie's understanding of the world. As Ai-Ming settles into their home, she shares the story of her family across decades of Chinese history. Her tales begin in the teahouses during Chairman Mao's rise and move through the Shanghai Conservatory in the 1960s, following three musicians whose lives intertwine through China's Cultural Revolution. Sparrow composes music in quiet brilliance, Zhuli masters the violin as a prodigy, and Kai plays piano with mysterious intensity. The three struggle to protect their art and each other as political forces reshape their country. Their choices during those turbulent years create consequences that reach across time to touch both Ai-Ming and Marie. Through intimate storytelling, the novel connects personal relationships to vast historical changes, showing how music becomes both refuge and rebellion.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, music, 21st-century, asian-american
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, intergenerational
Setting: Canada, China, Shanghai
Period: 1960s, 1991, Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square Protests
480 pages · Paperback · Granta Books